


Once Upon an Apocalypse

by Katuary



Series: Carrying the Apocalypse [1]
Category: Left 4 Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Apocalypse, CEDA (Left 4 Dead), Dark Carnival, F/M, Game: Left 4 Dead 2, Green Flu (Left 4 Dead), Hard Rain, Pandemics, Swamp Fever, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-10 20:29:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20534132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katuary/pseuds/Katuary
Summary: Caught up in the middle of the Green Flu pandemic while spending Spring Break in Savannah, Kate is forced to evacuate the city. She’d never make it out of harm’s way on her own. Good thing she isn’t alone for long.





	Once Upon an Apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

> This is an edit of my fic by the same name on FF (clac234). I’m planning on working on rewrites for this as time allows between my DA projects.

_March 2013_

Cliché as it sounded, I had never felt so alive. It was Spring Break, and, for the first time in my life I'd been allowed to actually _do_ something about it. Amy and I were driving down to her parents' place in Georgia for the week. Granted, Savannah was no Fort Lauderdale or Palm Beach or anything, but it was a welcome change from the old days. I usually spent most of the break catching up on homework or playing endless hours of video games at my parents' house. Even then, I'd almost copped out and stayed home _again_. I had a million and a half excuses not to go: money, homework, upcoming tests. I'd finally been convinced by a pouting Amy and a well placed smack on the arm from my younger sister. 

We zipped down I-75 and I let out a whoop when I saw the sign welcoming us to Georgia. We were finally close! Over a day straight in the car was enough to drive anyone nuts. Amy indulged me by turning up the radio.

"I suppose this calls for a celebration?" she asked wryly. God knew she'd put up with my carpool karaoke habit the whole drive down. I was lucky she was just as awful as me on that front. I fitfully switched through the stations, despairing when I found nothing but country on. _It's been the same damn thing ever since we left Illinois._ I was definitely not in the mood for that. Even if I was, I didn't know the words. What fun was that? I finally found what I was looking for and cranked the volume. 

"Pat Benatar," I announced with a grin, "you have _officially _saved my life." 

* * *

We continued our two-woman karaoke party all the way to Savannah. Amy had almost vibrated out of her seat when she finally found the top 40 station. 

"Hot night wind was blowin', where you think you're going baby?_ Hey! I just met you, and this is crazy..._oh come _on!_" Really? News right in the middle of the chorus? I flopped my head back in protest. 

"_Right?_" Amy agreed, turning the radio off. "That's what you get for interrupting Carly. Fuckers." I snorted, but frowned at the window.

"You don't think it's like...a weather warning or something, do you?" Amy cocked a sarcastic eyebrow and shook her head, blonde curls bouncing. 

"Uh...Kate? Tornadoes tend to come out of completely cloudless skies on your home planet?"

"Dude, it's Minnesota. You don't like the weather, you go inside and wait five minutes."

"If I had a dime for every time you said that, I swear to _God_..."

"Okay, okay, fair! You keep ignoring the radio, and I'll keep lookout for Karma Tornadoes that are pissed you're ignoring them."

"My hero. Now help me find the exit. It's been a while..."

I helped Amy follow the last directions to her parents' house from there. A few minutes later, we pulled into the garage of a small, slightly weathered town home. Frankly, it looked perfect to me. Hotel rooms were smaller, had shared walls, and weren't _free_.

Before I could so much as unbuckle my seat belt, Amy bolted into the house ahead of me, shouting as she went, 

"Shotgun!"

_What the hell?_ I went inside and heard the sound of her suitcase bouncing on her bed. Her parents had kept the room exactly as it had been in high school, down to the _Twilight_ posters. I turned my head to see her perched primly on top of her luggage. _Ah, so that's how it is._

"Okay, then." I looked around the room, expecting to find a futon or something. "So...where am I supposed to sleep?" She just smirked and glanced pointedly through the open door at the living room. _Oh, good, I get the couch_. I relented and dragged my duffel into the living room. "Whatever happened to Southern hospitality?" I called over my shoulder. She laughed. 

"No girls allowed in my room overnight. Gotta keep things PG-13 when I'm at Mom and Dad's." I snorted.

"They..._do_ realize your girlfriend is a thousand miles away, right?"

"Ohhh, trust me. Cam's getting an earful about not coming down here. Stupid internship. Now they're gonna have to wait until May to meet her. Unless I can convince Mom that 'the Skype' isn't gonna give her laptop a virus."

"If you figure that one out, call my dad,” I said dryly, “Speaking of which...I should let them know I got here okay. Just a sec."

I stepped away to call, but it didn’t want to go through. _I know I checked the cell phone plan before I left. This should work just fine. No extra charges or anything. _Oh well. They’d have to settle for a text:

**Hey! Amy and I are at her folks’. Sorry, something must be up with the cell towers. I’ll call as soon as it’s off the fritz. Love ya and stay warm! ;P**

The response from Mom came in seconds:

**No biggie, have fun and be safe. Love you lots!**

If the signal didn't come back quickly enough, I could always ask to borrow the landline. Home was the only number I had memorized. As if it could read my mind, the home phone rang. Amy skidded through the kitchen in her socks to answer it in time.

"Hello? Dad, hi! Kate and I just got in. We were gonna call, but figured you'd be...wait, what?" I tried not to eavesdrop, but there wasn't anywhere I could go without overhearing. I fiddled with my cell phone instead, laying on the couch and spinning it on my stomach. 

"You have to stay? I...is it something serious? We can drive up and..." I couldn't hear what her dad said on the other end of the call, but it definitely got louder. "I...okay. We'll stay put. Call me if anything changes? Or...when I can visit?" She sighed, nodding as though he could see her. "Okay. Love you too. Bye." She hung up the phone and stared at it for a long moment. I was about to ask what was wrong when she joined me in the living room and perched on the arm of the couch. 

"Mom's sick," she started, biting the inside of her cheek, "Dad took her to the doctor and he got...kind of freaked out. Doctor wasn't saying anything different, but he could see it his face, you know?" She met my eyes and hugged one knee to her chest. I nodded and let her continue. "He said the doctor wanted to run some tests up at the hospital. Bunch of other people there for the same thing, he thought. Like...like they wanted them all in the same place or something."

"Maybe that hospital's the only one that tests for it? Or...could be flu season, right?" I wasn't the best at handling these situations. I didn't have a good handle on when to use logic and when to shut up. Amy nodded slowly though, chewing on her lower lip.

"I suppose..." she said doubtfully, "But...what if it's that crap from Pennsylvania?" 

The new flu of the year had started up in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago, but I wasn't too worried about it. Most people barely gave it more attention than swine flu, and that was only because it had originated stateside instead of overseas. Harder to ignore. I shook my head.

"I don't think so. How would it get down here that fast?"

"Airplanes are a thing, Kate." 

"Well...there's no proof that flu's any worse than bird flu or swine flu or anything, right? I mean, it's not a picnic, but I knew people that stayed in a dorm for a week straight to kick swine flu. Your mom'll be fine." 

"I guess I just have to wait for Dad to call again." She blew a breath out through her nose and put on a tight smile. "Wanna order a pizza or something? I'm _starv..._"

_Pop. _The lights burned out overhead, and the reassuring background hum of the refrigerator cut off abruptly. Amy glowered, then shrugged. 

"Or we can raid the cheese in the fridge before it goes bad."

* * *

The next few days were awful. We spent the first few hours of the power outage playing cards by an open window, the breeze making the lack of air conditioning somewhat more tolerable. When it became clear the power wasn't coming back anytime soon, we took more thorough measures. Filled the bathtub and all the sinks with water in case that got cut off. Ate everything we could in the fridge before it spoiled. Listened to an ancient, battery-powered radio for news. It wasn't exactly how I'd envisioned our vacation, and I knew my parents would _not_ be happy that my phone hadn't been charged in days. I was lucky if they hadn't already packed up to retrieve me. 

* * *

Day by day, Amy became increasingly sick. It didn't seem like a big deal at first, just the cherry on top of the shit sundae of our situation. We left the house for the first time to stock up on cold medicine, tissues, and junk food at the nearest gas station. Most of the bigger chain stores couldn't operate during a blackout and were closed already. Good thing I'd remembered cash.

* * *

What had initially looked like an irritating cold quickly transformed into something much worse. Amy spent most of her time cooped up in her room, sipping from lukewarm cans of chicken soup when she could manage to keep it down. She slept more often than not and I listened to the radio alone. There wasn't a consistent signal anymore, and what little I could make out was increasingly frantic. Warnings about blackouts turned to warnings about quarantines. I couldn't quite understand what was going on, since the radio always conveniently dissolved into mind-numbing static whenever something new came up. I had no computer, no phone, and didn't know the neighborhood well enough to go door to door for answers. I wished we had a generator so I could at least text home and let them know I was okay.

* * *

Finally, a day came where the radio was mostly news and miraculously understandable. I turned the volume up slightly, not enough to wake Amy, and listened intently.

_"...has declared a nationwide state of emergency. Report unusual behavior. Barricade your homes. Avoid all contact with infected individuals. Wait for official instructions."_

The broadcast paused for a beat, then repeated itself. _Infected individuals? What the hell is going on?_ My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to reason my way through what to do next. Referring to my ample experience fighting video game monsters, I checked the windows and doors. It would never work. Far too many ways for _infected individuals_ to get in. Besides, what help would barricading ourselves inside the middle of a quarantine zone be? We had a limited supply of food, and, as far as I knew anyway, no weapons to speak of. That wasn't even considering the fact that I had nothing to barricade _with_. 

_What am I supposed to do? Lean every piece of furniture across the windows myself? I'm not Wonder Woman._

Amy wouldn't be any help in her state either. She hadn't moved from her room in the past twenty-four hours, at least.

I shook my head. There was no way I was just going to sit tight and get myself killed. 

I packed the remaining junk food into my duffel bag, then changed my mind and strategically dumped it into Amy's backpack instead. Much easier to move with food secure on my back instead of flopping all over the place. 

I tore the kitchen apart looking for water bottles, thankful the tap still worked. I filled every bottle I could find and stuffed them in with the food. I threw the backpack over my shoulder, grunting at the weight, and dumped it in the backseat of Amy's sedan. Feeling a little foolish, I left the keys in the ignition for a quick getaway. 

_Now for the fun part. Trying to move a sick and irritable person your size to the car._ If I had to carry her, we were screwed. 

I slowly opened the door to Amy's bedroom. Her bed was empty. _Maybe she heard me packing and is getting ready to leave?_ I heard her then. A soft, heartbroken sobbing in the corner of the room. Amy was pale and gaunt, curled into a ball in her Pikachu pajamas and rocking back and forth rhythmically. _Maybe she's worried about leaving without telling her parents?_

"Amy? We need to go. I'll leave them a note..." I reached out a hand to comfort her, lightly touching her shoulder. 

She whirled around the instant I touched her, screaming unintelligibly, hands outstretched. Five fingers ripped through the air and slashed across my right forearm, leaving triplet angry red streaks. 

I tried to scream, but only gasped. It was like a dream where you couldn't run because you were constantly tripping. 

In that moment, even before the pain set in, I was positive Amy didn't exist anymore. Her eyes were dyed a shocking shade of brilliant red. Her skin had sickened to a lifeless gray. Worst of all, the nails on her hands were gone and replaced with foot-long and razor-sharp claws. 

_None _of the quarantine warnings could have prepared me for that.

I expected her to attack again, but her face cleared and she miraculously retreated back to her corner. I fled the room as quickly and quietly as I could. I chanced a look at my arm and nearly gagged. Jagged red rivulets were running from the wounds, dripping down my fingers to the shag carpet. _Don't pass out. Whatever you do, don't pass out._ My head swam, mocking me, but I bolted to car and locked the doors. I allowed myself a few breaths with my eyes closed and took panting breaths to calm my racing heart.

_Think._

I grabbed my jean jacket from the backseat and wiped the mess on my arm as best I could. I tied it in a clumsy knot, cursing that I was right-handed. Not the best bandage, or sanitary, but I had a crazy monster in the house and had access to nothing else. _Why the hell did I focus on food and not first aid? Stupid._

I braced myself and brought my fingers to the keys. It seemed I would be evacuating alone. 

I turned the ignition. The rumble of the engine wasn't the only roar I heard. 

I glanced up to check the rear view mirror and saw Amy silhouetted in the open entryway door. She bared her claws and _screamed_. 

I didn't take any chances.

I immediately shifted into reverse, gunning the gas and crashing through the garage door. I heard a series of sickening thumps as I accelerated down the driveway. For a brief moment, I thought I'd killed Amy's neighbors come to help us. No. It was a crowd of slack-jawed, rabid-looking...zombies.

I careened into the street, followed closely by Amy. She managed to break the passenger side window, showering the seat with glass and finally drawing a scream out of me, before I shifted into drive and promptly _got the hell out of there._

* * *

I desperately turned on the radio, hoping for _some _further direction. The station I'd been listening to earlier was still broadcasting the same useless information as before. 

"Oh _f-fuck _you!" I stammered, teeth chattering as I tried another station. 

_"Evacuation Zones have been set up throughout the country. All uninfected individuals can evacuate through the nearest metropolitan area as follows: Olympia, San Diego, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Galveston."_

I used my knowledge from fifth grade geography for once in my life and gathered I should be going to New Orleans. 

* * *

I drove as fast as I could through the neighborhood, dodging as many of the...zombies...as I possibly could. Desperate as I'd been to leave, I couldn't afford to further damage the car.

I was nearly on the highway when a car crashed into the road ahead of me. I screeched to a jolting stop just in time. I thought it might have flown off an overpass until I started to maneuver around the car. I caught a glimpse of something in my side mirror and froze. It wasn't human. No _way_ that thing could have ever _been_ human. It was _huge_. Pink Hulk on steroids. I floored the accelerator and furtively checked the rear view mirror just in time to see it _rip a chunk of the street off and throw it at me_.

"Fuck, fuck me, fuck, _nope!_" 

It missed by a couple feet, the jarring impact cracking the pavement. My nails bit into my palms as I got the hell away from that thing. I would have to remain as calm as possible if I was going to keep playing dodge-the-zombie. Other than the giant shaved gorilla, the way was relatively clear once I reached the highway. Very few cars going my direction, and most of those were pulled off to the side of the road. Good thing, too. I was doing eighty the entire time, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

* * *

The sun set directly in my eyes. I knew I needed to stop eventually if I was going to succeed in...not crashing and killing myself. Before I could make that decision, the road chose for me. I barely saw the pileup in time and ground on the brakes for the fiftieth time that day. The car skid to a clumsy stop. I unlatched my hands from the steering wheel and pocketed the keys. I needed a better look, so I cautiously exited and stood on top of the hood. Looked like the cars went on for miles and miles. Seemed my luck had run out; there was no way in hell I'd be able to maneuver a car through this.

_Well. If I'm going to die, I might as well get some sleep first._

I hopped off the car and checked for unwanted hitchhikers before climbing into the backseat. I double and triple checked the locks before laying down. Whether it was exhaustion, stress, blood loss, or my brain's self-preservation instinct, I was asleep nearly the moment my head hit the seat.


End file.
